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Editorial: We all must join the effort against hate

Ventura
Published 5:20 p.m. PT March 22, 2017

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Gordon Clint, of Newbury Park, joins in the United Against Hate protest from Del Sol Park to Plaza Park in Oxnard. Participants were protesting President Donald Trump, who was sworn-in Friday.(Photo: JUAN CARLO/THE STAR)Buy Photo

We learned this week about another disturbing racial incident at a Ventura County school, this time involving baseball players at Nordhoff High in Ojai. As is usually the case, the school took disciplinary action. And yet these types of sickening incidents continue throughout our community.

Our schools teach and preach tolerance day in and day out. We cannot blame them or expect them to solve this problem on their own. It is time for the rest of us to do more in letting young people and everyone else know that racial, religious, ethnic, sexual orientation and other hate is wrong, unacceptable behavior.

Parents must be more proactive, no matter how enlightened they think their families are. They simply cannot assume anymore that their children will be tolerant of those who are different.

For the community as a whole, events such as those being held this weekend in Conejo Valley must be encouraged and embraced. These events send a clear message of our unity against hate and prejudice.

We can endlessly debate how we got to this point. Many blame Donald Trump’s divisive presidential campaign. Others say hate is not on the rise; that the media is exaggerating the situation. But even one hate incident is too much, and we’ve certainly seen more than that recently in our county:

At Nordhoff, three baseball players were kicked off the team and their coach resigned after Principal Greg Bayless learned the trio had used their team jerseys to spell out what he called “the worst, most hateful and disrespectful racial slur that exists in our culture.” The three face additional school discipline, all team activities have been suspended, and English and history teachers have been told to discuss the issue in their classes.

At the predominantly Latino school Pacifica High in Oxnard, at least one player on Simi Valley High's junior varsity boys volleyball team shouted “build a wall” during a varsity match this month.

At Ventura’s Buena High School in January, two students sent a racist tweet depicting two black men who had been lynched. The students were disciplined, but details were not released.

In Oak Park last month, note cards with swastikas and other derogatory marks were left on vehicles, front doors and mailboxes at seven homes and a Chabad center. Surveillance footage revealed four male teens as suspects.

In Newbury Park last month, two swastikas were painted on the wooden side of a baseball field and a third on concrete ground at Dos Vientos Community Park.

In Simi Valley, two men in December stabbed another man leaving a mosque, according to police. Authorities allege the two had yelled anti-Muslim slurs at people coming out of the mosque.

In Agoura Hills, a resident was arrested in October on suspicion of calling the Islamic Center of Southern California and threatening to kill people because of his “hatred for Muslims and his belief that Muslims will destroy the United States,” Los Angeles police said.

From Ojai to Agoura, no city or school is immune. In December, we reported on a new FBI report showing the nation had 257 anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2015, compared with 154 the year before. The Ventura County District Attorney's Office handled 12 hate crimes in the last two years, compared with five in the two years before that.

We received more grim statistics last week from a leading hate crime researcher. Hate crimes in nine U.S. metropolitan areas increased by more than 20 percent last year, according to Brian Levin, director of the nonpartisan Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at CSU San Bernardino. The crimes apparently increased in some cities following the Nov. 8 election and continued this year with bomb threats and desecrations at Jewish synagogues and cemeteries, Levin said.

In response to the recent anti-Semitism and other hate incidents, Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks and others have organized an event Sunday called Unity in the Community to “promote peace, respect and acceptance.” It will begin at 10 a.m. with the mile-long Friendship Walk from Willow School in Agoura Hills to Mae Boyar Park in Oak Park, where speeches, performances and other activities will be offered until 2 p.m. More information is available at friendshipwalk.org.

We applaud the event’s sponsors, which include the county of Ventura, city of Agoura Hills, Oak Park Unified School District, Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, California Lutheran University, The Human Element Project, Conejo Valley Interfaith Council and The Friendship Circle. And we encourage every parent, every child, every resident to join the effort against hate every day in their homes and out in the community.